‘I have learned a lot from Irrfan Khan’: Nawazuddin Siddiqui

It’s been eight years since Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox hit screens. The film, starring Irrfan Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Nimrat Kaur, resonated with audiences across the globe, especially with the ones who hail from Mumbai.

Recently, Nawazuddin opened up about working with late actor Irrfan and shooting in Mumbai’s iconic local trains for The Lunchbox.

“For me, one of the best experiences was to shoot for the film in a packed train. An entire compartment was booked for our shoot. Irrfan bhai and I had got into our get-up for the movie and sat between the locals. No one really realised but everyone just perfectly synced into our scene. That is the beauty of a local train. Even those who were not in our unit became a part of The Lunchbox,” Nawazuddin said in an interview with The Times of India.

In 2013, when The Lunchbox released, there were rumours that Irrfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui were not comfortable working with each other and that the two even ignored each other on the sets. However, now the Manto actor has put all these rumours to rest. He said, “Irrfan bhai was like my older brother and I have several precious memories of working with him, even before ‘The Luncbox’ happened.”

Nawazuddin also added how Irrfan took him to meet Danny Boyle. He said, “When the casting for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was going on, he took me to meet Danny Boyle without an appointment. Imagine walking in to meet such a big director without any prior notice. Finally, both of us were cast in the movie, but unfortunately, when the shoot began, I was busy with another movie. So, my part was then offered to another actor. I have learned a lot from Irrfan bhai… even how to meet a big Hollywood director without an appointment (laughs).”

On the work front, Nawazuddin Siddiqui has No Land’s Man, Bole Chudiyan and Jogira Sara Ra Ra in the pipeline.

Source: The Indian Express